11/29/06

USC Annenberg Digital Future Project finds shifts in social communication and personal connections on the Internet.

By Geoff Baum

对互联网用户来说，在线世界是否和现实世界一样总要呢？

根据USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future关于第六次互联网的冲击调查研究发现，大多互联网用户对于关于在线社区和现实社区的价值比较有着很明确的观点。

2006数字未来项目在关于在线社区快速演进的众多研究中发现：43%的互联网用户属于社区用户，他们“强烈的”认为虚拟社区和现实世界社区一样重要。（原文：43 percent of Internet users who are members of online communities say that they “feel as strongly” about their virtual community as they do about their real-world communities. 不知道我这样是否正确地阐述了原作者的意思）

Jeffrey I. Cole，director of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.评说“在www门户面向公众开放10多年后的现在，我们现在正在见证互联网所真实涌现出来的强大的个人（个体）和社会现象，我们确信他一定会实现”

“自从1994年互联网对美国公众正式开放以来，他一直是一个娱乐、资讯和沟通交流的来源，”Cole认为“不管怎样，互联网作为一个广泛应用的工具被美国用来接触世界，我们从2006年我们正在开始确认她的现实增长以及揭示它新的应用方向。”

这个项目在美国每年调查超过2000个个人，每年都要与同样的家庭联系，以探查在线技术对于互联网用户和非互联网用户的生活方式的影响。同时也检查技术改变对他们行为的影响，比如互联网接入方式从modern转变到宽带接入对于用户行为的影响。

2006年的数字未来项目发现互联网应用正在通过blog、个人网站和再现社区等成长和演变成为个人应用。

在线社区（Online Communities）：是一个从联系到实际行动的催化剂

在线社区和线下活动（offline action）：数字未来项目发现介入在线社区导致了线下活动（个人对其这个观点结论持保留意见，理由：这个结论说明其在最初的抽样过程中存在严重偏差或者客观的社区发展环境局限再或者其所寻找到的社区都只是一些初级社区而非成熟完善社区，当然在线社区发展到今天完全的成熟完善社区大的目前还没有，小的社区中也许会多一些，长期或者整体或者客观来讲，这个结论是绝对错误的，顶多只能在某一个阶段成立）。超过1/5的在线社区成员（约为20.3%）至少每年参加一次他们的在线社区的线下活动。（在线社区Online Communities的定义：是指通过电子通讯工具进行思想、观点、或者工作等方面交流分享的群体或者团体）。

实际社交行动（Social activism）：是指通过参加在线社区而导致的实际社交活动。几乎2/3（64.9%）的在线社区成员因为互联网而参加实际社会活动，他们说，参加线下活动的原因是因为多人在互联网上参加对他们很新奇。超过40%的在线社区成员（43.7%）因为加入了多人的在线社区而参加了更多的实际社交活动。

每日使用在线社区（Online communities, daily use）：大多数在线社区成员至少每天登录一次他们的社区（56.6%）。

成员之间的相互促进、影响和作用（Member interaction）：在线社区是成员之间相互影响的港湾。在2006年，70.4%的成员认为当他们登录社区的时候经常会和社区的其他成员之间相互影响。

互联网用户：通过互联网进行联系（Reaching Out Across the Web）

信息传递（Posting information）：不断增长的互联网用户正在不断地进行信息传递，无论是通过blog、招贴照片还是保持维护个人站点等等。

• 在过去的3年里，美国拥有blog的互联网用户数翻了一番（从2003年的3.2%上升到当前的7.4%）
• 同样的，在过去3年里进行在线招贴照片的互联网用户翻了不止一番（从11%上升到当前的23.6%）
• 拥有个人网站的互联网用户数在稳步增长，目前达到了12.5%

互联网和社会连接(The Internet and Social Links)

数字未来项目发现：通过互联网与家人和朋友保持联系的持续增长并没有对自己和他们亲自呆在一起的时间产生任何消极或者负面的不好影响。

新朋友，在线认识的朋友和亲自当面认识的：关于在线结识朋友以及初次在线认识然后亲自见面的朋友数量增长的发现。在2006年，通过互联网结识而且从未亲自见过面的朋友的平均数量是4.85人。来自互联网而且亲自见过面的朋友的平均数量是1.6人（是数字未来项目2000年启动时数据的2倍多）。

通过互联网与他人保持联系是否在秩序井然的增加呢？对于这一问题的反馈相对于在2002年最近一次的调查中42.8%的互联网用户同意在线方式秩序井然的提高了他们保持联系的朋友的数量，今年有限的数据至少46.6%的人和4年前持同样的观点。

互联网用户和家人、朋友之间的沟通交流（Internet users and communication with family and friends）：虽然超过40%的用户认为互联网提高了他们保持联系的人们的数量，但认为自从开始使用互联网之后他们与朋友见人之间联系更多的人数比例有所降低（a lower percent）。

在2006年认为自从使用互联网以后他们和家人朋友之间的沟通联系更多（原文：communicating more with family and friends）的人数的比例从2002年的45.5%下降到了37.7%。

互联网是否改变了和家人朋友之间面对面交流的时间？（Does the Internet change the amount of time spent with friends and family face-to-face?）：当绝大多数互联网用户认为在线活动（going online）增加了和朋友家人之间联系的时候，几乎所有的用户都说互联网对于他们和家人或者亲密朋友面对面交流的时间没有影响。

原文：Attributes of a Virtual Community

Attributes of a Virtual Community

11/29/06

USC Annenberg Digital Future Project finds shifts in social communication and personal connections on the Internet.

By Geoff Baum

Is the online world as important to Internet users as the real world?

Large numbers of Internet users hold such strong views about their online communities that they compare the value of their online world to their real-world communities, according to the sixth annual survey of the impact of the Internet conducted by the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.
Among a broad range of findings about rapidly evolving methods for online communication, the 2006 Digital Future Project found that 43 percent of Internet users who are members of online communities say that they “feel as strongly” about their virtual community as they do about their real-world communities.
“More than a decade after the portals of the World Wide Web opened to the public, we are now witnessing the true emergence of the Internet as the powerful personal and social phenomenon we knew it would become,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.
“The Internet has been a source of entertainment, information and communication since the Web became available to the American public in 1994,” Cole said. “However, in 2006 we are beginning to measure real growth and discover new directions for the Internet as a comprehensive tool that Americans are using to touch the world.”
The findings about online communities and more than 100 other issues are published in the 2006 Digital Future Project, the comprehensive annual examination of the impact of online technology on America.
The project surveys more than 2,000 individuals across the United States, each year contacting the same households to explore how online technology affects the lives of Internet users and non-users. It also examines how changing technology, such as the shift from Internet access by modem to broadband, affects behavior.
The 2006 Digital Future Project found that Internet use is growing and evolving as an instrument for personal engagement – through blogs, personal Web sites and online communities.
Online Communities: A Catalyst for Connection and Activism
Online communities and offline action: The Digital Future Project found that involvement in online communities leads to offline actions. More than one-fifth of online community members (20.3 percent) take actions offline at least once a year that are related to their online community. (An “online community” is defined as a group that shares thoughts or ideas, or works on common projects, through electronic communication only.)
Social activism: Participation in online communities leads to social activism. Almost two-thirds of online community members who participate in social causes through the Internet (64.9 percent) say they are involved in causes that were new to them when they began participating on the Internet. And more than 40 percent (43.7 percent) of online community members participate more in social activism since they started participating in online communities.
Online communities, daily use: A significant majority of members of online communities (56.6 percent) log into their community at least once a day.
Member interaction: Online communities are havens for interaction among members. In 2006, 70.4 percent of online community members said they sometimes or always interact with other members of their community while logged in.
Internet Users: Reaching Out Across the Web
Posting information: Growing percentages of Internet users are going online to post information, whether on a blog, posting photos or maintaining a personal Web site.
• The number of Internet users in America who keep a blog has more than doubled in three years (now 7.4 percent of users, up from 3.2 percent in 2003).
• Likewise, the number of Internet users who post photos online has more than doubled in three years (now 23.6 percent of users, up from 11 percent).
• The number of users who maintain their own Web site continues to grow steadily (now 12.5 percent of users).
The Internet and Social Links
The Digital Future Project found continuing growth of the Internet for connection to family and friends – but with virtually no negative effects on time spent in person with them.
New friends, online and in person: Internet users are finding growing numbers of online friends as well as friends they first met online and then met in person. In 2006, Internet users reported having met an average of 4.65 friends online whom they have never met in person. Internet users in 2006 reported an average of 1.6 friends met in person whom they originally met online – more than double the number when the Digital Future Project began in 2000.
Does the Internet increase regular contact with other users?: Responding to a question last asked in 2002, 42.8 percent of Internet users agree that going online has increased the number of people they regularly stay in contact with – marginally less than the 46.6 percent who voiced the same response four years ago.
Internet users and communication with family and friends: Although more than 40 percent of users said that the Internet has increased the number of people with whom they stay in contact, a lower percent said that since starting to use the Internet, they are communicating more with family and friends.
In 2006, 37.7 percent of Internet users agreed that since they started to go online, they are communicating more with family and friends – down from 45.5 percent in 2002.
Does the Internet change the amount of time spent with friends and family face-to-face?: While large percentages of Internet users said that going online increases contact with family and friends, almost all users reported that the Internet has no effect on the time spent with close friends or family face-to-face.